Labsco
MCP SERVER

Headless IDA MCP Server

by cnitlrt ↗

Run IDA Pro headless as a background service, so an agent can work through a binary without the GUI open.

Runtime Debugging & Crash Analysis
Summary
IDA's analysis without an IDA window — the point is that it runs as a service.

The interactive-plugin route ties the agent to a session someone has to keep open. Running headless means the binary can be analyzed on a server, over sse, as part of something larger. The cost is that IDA Pro is still a licensed product you have to have.

What it is

A command-line MCP server that drives IDA Pro's headless mode over the headless-ida library, exposing analysis of a binary — its functions, variables and more — as tools.

What you get
  • Binary analysis backed by IDA Pro itself, not a reimplementation of it
  • Tools for inspecting and manipulating the functions and variables IDA has recovered
  • Runs as a standalone CLI service rather than as an interactive IDA plugin
  • Choice of transport — stdio for a local client, or sse for a networked one
Requirements

A licensed IDA Pro with headless support, and Python 3.12 or higher. Configuration goes in a .env file: IDA_PATH points at the idat executable, TRANSPORT selects sse or stdio, and HOST and PORT set the listen address when you use sse. Install with uv pip install -e . and start with uv run headless_ida_mcp_server. The tool implementations are adapted from ida-pro-mcp.